The California Exchange
by JezebelKanda
Summary: Scorpius attended Hogwarts long enough to learn to hate it. He ends up leaving to go to school in California. Now in sixth year, he's back with a few friends. One of which throws James Potter off his groove and another who seems to have a thing for black hair and glasses.
1. Malfoy's Brat

Scorpius had been so excited to get to Hogwarts. Ever since he was a little boy, he'd dreamed of the day he could say good bye to his parents and go off to school. He'd dreamed of the red steam train, the lake with the giant squid, the boats, the castle, and most of all his sorting.

Unlike most students from wizarding families, he didn't care what house he was in as long as he got in. His father had always told him that all of the houses were great and his mother had agreed. It would be best, he thought, that he get in Ravenclaw. He was smart, he knew. All of the teachers at his muggle school had told him again and again how smart he was. He wanted to show the world how smart he was, how much potential he had.

The night before he was due at the train station, he couldn't sleep. He knew that his family was treated differently than others. Earlier that day, his father had told him why. They had been Death Eaters. Scorpius was sad and ashamed. How could he deal with such a huge stain on his family. His sweet mother and loving father. His father who never raised either his hand or voice in anger had been a death eater. For the first time in his life, Scorpius was afraid. He was afraid of the other students and of the teachers.

The thoughts that plagued his were all similar. What if he couldn't make friends? What if everybody hated him? What if the teachers didn't care what happened to him? What if he was failed in every test because his dad had been a bully? But Scorpius was a very happy boy. His final thought before he fell asleep? He could turn it all around if he tried hard enough. He could show the world that the Malfoys were good people. He could show them...

The next morning, Scorpius and his family arrived early at the train station. The wandered the station aimlessly. A tense silence had taken over the small family. It was so strange for Draco to be silent to his son. Astoria, too was not as fussy as Scorpius had expected. He felt it was better not to say anything until his parents were ready. The hour of departure came son enough and they stood silently besides the steaming red train. People avoided them and Scorpius was a little thankful. His parents hadn't said anything yet. He wanted to hear them when they spoke.

Finally, just before the train was to leave, Draco spoke. "Don't let anyone convince you that you're not worth anything. You are a wonderful person, and nothing that happened in the war is your fault. You can be ashamed of our family if you want but never forget that we love you. We have had good and bad people in our family. If it's going to get you in trouble, don't defend our honor. Don't get in any fights or any trouble. I love you Scorpius." With a last hug and goodby kiss from his mum, Scorpius left them standing at the station, worried looks etched on their faces.

Scorpius wandered to the very last compartment. He sat on the empty seat and placed his owl, Cleo, on the opposite seat. He stared out of the window, lost in thought until someone opened his compartment door. They were three boys, second years, he guessed from their better-than-thou smirks. A tall boy with unruly black hair and light brown eyes grinned wider.

"Well, well, if it isn't ferret junior." Scorpius was confused. What ferret?

"Actually, my name is Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy. My friends call me Hype, though." The boys freckles seemed to get darker as he smiled wider.

"It speaks, Freddie! I didn't know an idiot Malfoy would be able to speak." A reddish-brown haired boy behind him snorted. His skin was darker than any of them. His blue eyes looked cold.

"Ickle firsties shouldn't be talking back to their elders, James. Especially ones who's family got their arses saved by your dad so many times." Scorpius felt the blood drain from his face.

"Wait a minute," he said, "That's kind of-" But what it was nobody knew because the three boys had hexed him simultaneously.

"If you ask me," said the one called James, "he looks better with the purple tentacles." They laughed and walked out of the compartment. Scorpius felt like crying. The trolley lady got rid of the tentacles on his face but James, Fred and their friend never got in trouble for what they had done.

_Dear Father and Mum, _

_I got sorted into Ravenclaw. Everyone was excited when Albus Potter (Harry Potter's son) got sorted. He looks exactly like his father minus the glasses. Ravenclaw tower is truly amazing. My first week of classes went well. No friends yet but I fell down the stairs yesterday so don't worry over the nurse's letter. I'm fine I promise. I'm doing okay in class. Rose Weasley (Hermione Granger Weasley's daughter) is so smart. She answers all the questions and she's just in Gryffindor. I already lost three quills. Can you send me a few? More parchment would be lovely as well. _

_Love,_

_Scorpius_

_7777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777_

_Dear Mr and Mrs. Malfoy,_

_It is my regret to inform you of your son's accidental fall down the third floor stairs. He is alright but has a few scratches. _

_Yours,_

_Nurse Eloise _

_7777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777_

_Dear Mum and Father, _

_It's been a month and I'm still very busy. Thank you for the letters. I miss you terribly. I'm sorry I didn't tell you about the fall into the lake or the accident at flying class. I'm alright. I actually forgot about those. Don't worry about the Red Cap accident, it was just a small scratch. The niffler that got into the dorm is fine. The only things he took were my silver watch and the ring mum gave me for my birthday. Oh, wait, I almost forgot, he also tore the buckles off of my shoes. _

_Love, _

_Scorpius_

_777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777_

_Dear Mum and Father, _

_I'm fine thank you for the letters. Everything's still the same. Send me a few new quills if you have the time. I lost them again. Miss you. _

_Love. _

_Scorpius_

_77777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777_

_Dear Mum and Father,_

_Thank you for the candy. I miss you. _

_Love, Scorpius_

_777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777_

_Dear Mum and Father, _

_I scored well on the essay about faeries. Thank you for the help. I miss you. _

_Love,_

_Scorpius_

_7777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777_

_Dear Mum and Father, _

_I can't wait to see you for Christmas. _

_Love Scorpius_

Astoria and Draco Malfoy were very worried when they went to pick up their son for Christmas vacation. His short, spaced out letters didn't sound like the little boy they had raised. The frequent falls down the stairs, into the lake, pixie attacks, niffler attacks, Red Cap attacks, and claims of losing things were dry wood added to the fire of worry. They were anxious to see their young boy. Would he be the same?

The answer was negative. Scorpius' face sported a long scratch down one pale cheek. His hair was choppy, not the well groomed style he'd had. His distracted demeanor and silence during the ride home worried them. Something was wrong. Throughout his stay, they tried to get it out of him but nothing they said got an answer from him. But the stay was good for him. He returned to being their cheerful boy. His laughter rang all through their home and music from his room warmed the cold hallways of the manor.

Christmas morning was the very best. His excited face made them so happy to have him back. But as the time to return to Hogwarts got closer, Scorpius became quieter and sadder. By the time they dropped him off at the station, he was the same boy they'd picked up.

_Dear Mum and Father, _

_Everything is fine here. Miss you. Ms..Potter is my favorite teacher. She let me have lunch with her. She makes really good cookies. _

_Love, _

_Scorpius_

_77777777777777777777777777777777777777777777_

_Dear Mr and Mrs,Malfoy, _

_I regret to inform you that your son was injured at the Slytherin VS Gryffindor game. It was not a serious injury just a misfire of a bludger from the Slytherin team. _

_Yours,_

_Nurse Eloise_

_77777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777_

_Dear Mum and Father, _

_I'm fine, really. I miss you. _

_Love, _

_Scorpius. _

_77777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777_

_Dear Mr and Mrs. Malfoy,_

_My name is Analecy Potter and I'm your son's DADA teacher. I'm very much aware of the bullying he is suffering from other students (from all four houses, to boot). There's nothing I can do as neither he nor anyone else will confess to what's going on. I would like to suggest something. _

_I'm from the United States and have worked at two different schools there. I would like to suggest you send your son to the Estelle Academy of Magi. It has a zero bullying policy and there's no separation by house. It's an excellent school._

_Scorpius is a great student. He's very smart and polite. He doesn't deserve the treatment he gets from other students. They had the notion, before the even met him, that he would be evil. When he turned out to be nothing like they thought, they tried to make him match their expectations. I'm willing to offer a referral to the Academy if you decide to enroll him. _

_Yours, _

_Analecy Potter. _

_77777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777_

_Dear Mum and Father, _

_Cleo couldn't deliver this letter because she was attacked last night. I miss you. _

_Love, _

_Scorpius._

_777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777_

_Dear Mum and Father, _

_Can't wait to come home. Cleo died last night. _

_Love, _

_Scorpius. _

The next fall, Scorpius' parents dropped him off at the Estelle Academy of Magi's gates.


	2. An end or a beginning?

**AN: This chapter is the first of the new ones, the ones I'm more excited to write (and more nervous to post). PLEASE SHARE WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT IT! Seriously, people, your opinions matter to me SO MUCH. **

The EAM kids went back to the US surrounded by an atmosphere of hopelessness and sadness. A good amount of the student's mothers, sisters, aunts, cousins, and grandmothers had fallen to the same disease Anastasia and Ginny had contracted. Very few men had contracted the illness but the ones who did usually got worse much faster than the majority of the women. There had been little to no fun in the last few weeks. The seventh years were taking axams and the eldest EAM students were extremely busy preparing every one of their exhausting classes fort the axams that awaited them in the US. Stress was obviously getting to everyone.

Trix and Derrick were rarely seen. As teachers and students, they had less time than anyone else. They were obviously stressed and getting little sleep. Derrick actually bit through his lip one day during lunch while Beatrix explained a complicated theory. His usually small, clean nails were bitten to the quick and sometimes bled; he'd also rubbed his temples so often that they were scratched and raw.

As for Trix, he tended to be androgynous as of late. More and more piercings appeared everytime they saw him. The last day before they left, the Hogwarts students convinced the EAM kids to go swimming in lake. That was when they all saw Trix's new tattoos. It was a strange tribal pattern that covered a good five inches of his upper right thigh and seemed to dissolve into tiny black and white dots another inch or two down his leg. There was also a rather large St. Benedict medallion with the Latin and the cross made up of a dense grouping of his closest friends' names covering his left breast and part of his ribs.

Lily and Al also looked very tired, and who could blame them? Lily spent the majority of her time completely boiling with anger. She was like a fire sprite, gostly pale with a burning mane of hair and eyes that promised a painful death if you so much as opened your mouth in her direction. She'd already used a perfect judo throw on Louis and a really nice roundhouse on some Ravenclaw seventh year for looking at her funny. Her aunts and uncles were extremely worried about her recently acquired violent tendencies but with the wizarding world going crazy over the mysterious illness spreading over the British Isles and the Asian smuggling ring of Vertebrita, there was nothing they could do.

Albus strongly reminded them of Moaning Myrtle. He was very sensitive and weepy. It was beginning to get on everyone's nerves so he spent much of his time with the silent, hardworking Erik. The dark shadows under his eyes were a worrisome green and purple mess.

The time to say goodbye was on a saturday. It was a sunny day and the EAM students were wearing their summer uniforms. Made of a cool, floaty material, the new uniforms resembled togas. It had made even Al smile, seeing Erik and the others in the white and navy drapes. The girl's were white and royal purple. Only Derrick and Trix were different. Their uniforms were white and a bloody maroon with a gold crown of laurel leaves for Derrick and one of everblooming Dragon flowers and fresh leaves for Trix.

It made a strange picture. The large group of students dressed all in greys and blacks with glimmers of yellow, maroon, green, and blue stading before an ancient castle facing the small group of white robed Greeks standing before a very modern bus. Music from the Hogwarts choir mingled with tears, plans to visit or write, and goodbyes. The Potter-Weasleys had already made plans with their new friends.

Rose had convinced her mother to let her go to Paris with the Malfoys. Trix was going to be at an intensive Auror certification camp for a month and then working for a week as a bodyguard for some Muggle millionaire. Erik was joining the Auror camp with Trix and later moving in with his brother (who'd be starting at some muggle university studying music). Only Annastasia, who spent her time in an enchanted coma, was not leaving the country. It was very dangerous to move her and already her mother had allowed a chimney in her home to be connected to the Floo network.

It ws a rather anti-climatic end to a very exciting year and the Hogwarts students were forced to watch Trix drive the bus into the sky, where it turned into a small bird and flew off.

"C'mon. Tomorrow's the last day. I've got to find a bunch of stuff still." The Weasley-Potters followed the gangly Fred into the castle. A very important year had ended with a sense of defeat, of strings yet to be tied and even the despairing Potters were upset by the feeling of letting something great die.

Albus, who'd leaned on Rose through most of the hard times in his life, suddenly felt abandoned. His father was burying himself in his work, Lily couldn't be talked to, James had already begun his studies for Healer, and Rose was over the moon with Scorpius. He was so alone. It wasn't just his mum's delicate condition but Anastasia's as well.

She had become so special to him, it was hard for him to see her so pale and still. Her bright energy had attracted him to her. He was used to being still and quiet, the better to be by Rose's side and to watch their large family. Her energy and the fact that she was never overshadowed by anything or anyone was what drew him. The girl he saw everyday when he visited the newly named Mysterious Illness ward was less than a shadow. With no one to talk to, no one to understand his feelings, he felt alone.

Somewhere on the edge of his consiousness, perhaps, he knew the loneliness was eating him alive. It had quickly become an invisible wall or a rift between him and the rest of the world. As time went on, he realized he was such a great actor. He began to smile, calming other's worries, but the smiles were fake. He became adept at a credible laugh and no one seemed to realize he was drowning.

He drifted from place to place, cleaning, studying, pretending to enjoy his time with the family. Al told no one, and if his siblings heard, they said nothing of his walking the house at night. He couldn't sleep. During the day, however, he was in a constant sleepy daze. Whenever there was a lapse in the sadness, a numb apathy took over. The pitiful sight of the other patients and their family, or the heartbreaking stories the aurors told of the devastation caused by the Vertebrita drug from Asia, had no effect on him. He was either burning or lukewarm, no other feeling got through to him. And still, no one saw.

Lily's actions that summer were ruled by rage. A burning anger at her mother's illness and her father's emotional distance from his children during this hard time made her lash out at anyone and everyone and still it wasn't enough. She wanted to scream and break things, throw anything she could get her hands on, or punch the walls until her knuckles were bloody and broken. Most of all, she wanted to be able to cry. But she contained herself, knowing full well what would happen if the media knew. She spent hours practicing what Derrick and Trix had taught her. When that wasn't enough, she found a school and joined it. But still, it wasn't enough. Every night, she heard Al walking through the house but for some reason, she couldn't get up and go to him. There was a wall between them and it wasn't going down anytime soon.

There was also the nagging feeling she'd forgotten something importat, something to do with Trix and Erik. Something...something that made her wake up in a heavy sweat from nightmares she could never remember. The fear she felt in those moments fed her anger more than anythign else. The fear made her feel helpless, which made her angrier.

By the third week of summer, she was sneaking into Muggle London to go to pubs. She'd get completly wankered, snog a couple of complete strangers, and get into fights with horny idiots. It was a stinging, temporary balm to all her pain. Even the tender, loving gestures of her family were like thorns in her side. She hated how uncomfortable they made her feel and she hated herself for all she was doing and feeling. She wanted her dad and her mum. She wanted them to be there, by her side, and sweep away her fear. She wanted to go back to all she had had before the EAM year. If only she could turn back time.

James, over his time away from Hogwarts, had become surprisingly focused. He shared the permanent feeling of worry that had gripped his family tight. Somehow, however, he still managed to focus on his Healer training. He'd thought about joining the Aurors but had realized he didn't have the diacipline for it. Healer training gave him the adrenaline rush he enjoyed and it helped people. But first, a couple of years with little sleep and lots of stress.

He was awake, memorizing counterspells and antidotes when his little brother roamed the house and his little sister got home from her latest drunken fight. There was nothing he could do for them just yet. If he'd already learned enough, he could enchant their sleep,clear their heads, and lessen their pain. He channeled his feelings of helplessness into his work.

He'd spend hours reading and writing in silence. When he'd been in Hogwarts, he'd needed the noise to be able to focus. Now, the worry in him and the jumbled feelings inside made all the noise needed. Once in a while, he'd look at a wizarding photograph he had on his desk. It was Beatrix, smiling and beautiful, standing knee deep in the lake. Her dark green swim suit made her new tattoos visible. Her wet hair, by then just past shoulder length, looked as black as his father's. Something in her smile acted as a good salve on his mind and his heart. She was his peace. Often, he'd be snapped out of that peace by Al's footsteps or Lily slamming a door, and he'd bow his dark red head over his parchment again.

Something had to change. Something had to give.


End file.
